I know that many of you have been waiting for an update on the status of the XPS M1330 notebook, and I wanted to take a few minutes to share where we are. While we have begun shipping on a limited basis, we expect to begin large-scale production and to ship systems in all regions beginning this week.

As Lionel mentioned in a previous update, there are some components like the LED display that may add time to an estimated ship date.

Dell provides estimated ship dates using many factors, including the time  it takes to ramp production  on a new product in our factories worldwide. We use that time to rigorously test our global sales, manufacturing and quality processes and to deal with issues that inevitably come up when we start to build new products in large quantities in our factories. What do I mean by issues? Things like part shortages, technical glitches, simple cosmetic issues, and other unanticipated issues that can arise when you start mass production.

One of the simplest and most reliable ways to monitor the progress of your order is by checking My Order Status on Dell.com.

For existing orders, our teams are doing everything they can to meet the estimated ship dates you were quoted at the time your order was placed. We will contact customers on a case by case basis if their particular orders will experience further delay.

Moving forward, Lionel will use the blog to provide updates on several things related to the XPS M1330. He'll continue to work with members of my team to understand the latest developments and will share them here.

Before signing off, I wanted to thank all of our XPS M1330 customers for your business. In the meantime, we appreciate your patience.

I know several of you are expecting an update on the status of the XPS M1330. Truth is that I still need a bit more time to finalize the details. I should have a brief update by sometime tomorrow.

My apologies for the delay.

Update 7/27: We're still working through some details and hope to share more soon. My apologies for the delay in communication.

First of all, thank you for the great response to the XPS M1330!

Several of you have submitted comments and sent direct e-mails asking about lead times for the new notebook. For those customers who placed an order, you were quoted a ship date in August (~30 working days).

You should check the status of your order again over the next week, because we expect to begin shipping XPS M1330 notebooks, configured by our customers, from our factories starting tomorrow. With shipments heading out, our order system can now calculate a more targeted expected ship date for every order placed. Once we ramp up, expected ship dates will be updated regularly, so keep checking back on Dell.com, under "My Order Status" (upper right corner of the page). You'll need an order number and a second form of verification, like zip code, handy.

Update: 7/13: My apologies—I misinterpreted some of the information I received, so wanted to clarify. We expect existing orders to be delivered by the date given when you ordered. Because we have a backlog of systems to work through, we don't expect orders to ship ahead of their current scheduled dates. We'll work to ship systems quickly, and look forward to any feedback you might have on it.

While some of the updated ship dates will be sooner than the original dates, others may not improve much. Those orders include components that have limited initial supply, like the WLED display, the white display back and the 2.0MP web camera. In a nutshell, these are popular options and demand is exceeding supply.

When we have an update on the situation, I'll blog about it. In the meantime, thanks for your patience.

Since last week's update and my subsequent correction, there are lots of customers like Ed, George Pharell, Francois and others who are asking me for updates on the status of the XPS M1330 notebook. I can confirm that we have started shipping systems. However, the process to ramp production has taken a bit longer than we expected. The reality is that due to the unique nature of some features of the notebook, we've had to work through some additional manufacturing processes.

The important point is that we are now building orders to ship to customers worldwide, and we will keep working to ship these notebooks as quickly as we can. I'll provide another update by mid-next week to give you a better idea for where we are in working through the backlog.

At this point, estimated ship dates for new orders is about four weeks. Like I mentioned in my previous post, some specific components like the thinner WLED display will add time to those estimated ship dates.

I know many of you have been waiting eagerly for your XPS M1330 notebooks, and we appreciate your business. We are working through details in real time and will look to provide updates when we have more details to share.

Thanks again for your patience, and stay tuned for a status update by mid-next week.

Update, 8/13:  The link for the XPS 700 Exchange Program is now live:

www.XPSUpgradeProgramDell.com

We are pleased to announce that we will launch the XPS 700 Motherboard Exchange Program worldwide on Monday, August 13, 2007. 

On August 13, we will launch a website for XPS 700 and 710 customers to register for the program and to tell us what options you prefer. XPS 700 customers will be able to choose a Hardware Kit at no charge, and can also opt for on-site installation service at no charge. XPS 700 customers will also have the option of purchasing a quad-core QX6700 processor for 25% off our Electronics & Accessories price (pricing may vary depending on the time you order). XPS 710 customers will have the option of of purchasing a Hardware Kit and on-site installation service. Pricing and program offering details may vary by region and will be outlined in future posts.

This program will expire on October 13, 2007. All upgrade requests must be submitted no later than midnight Central Standard Time October 13, 2007. For more information, here's the very first post where we outlined the details of this program, and here's the link to the XPS 700 Motherboard Exchange Program category that contains all the information we've shared so far.

Between now and August 13, I'll plan to publish more details about how to prepare, how the process will work, pricing details for XPS 710 customers, and more. In the meantime, we'll continue to prepare for the rollout of this global program.

We appreciate your continued patience.